Day four of the Arena Pro Swim Series will feature another Lochte-Phelps showdown, as two of the sport’s biggest names will meet in the finals of the 200 IM, barring any disqualifications. Lochte holds the top spot in the final heat of the morning, with Phelps set to swim in lane four of heat seven of eight. Phelps is seeded at a 1:56.04, Lochte enters with a 1:54.98. Conor Dwyer is the third overall seed with a 1:57.41.

Today will also showcase Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle. Ledecky already catapulted to the top of the women’s 1500 meter world rankings, and will likely do the same in the 800. Keep refreshing this page as it will be updated after each event with live recaps.

Women’s 200 IM – Prelims

Katinka Hosszu will be the number one seed heading into finals of the women’s 200 IM with a 2:13.28. However, the bigger story was Kirsty Coventry. Coventry put down a 2:15.36, good for the fourth overall seed and the fastest time of her comeback so far by half a second.

Caitlin Leverenz took the second seed with a 2:14.34, and Maya DiRado rounds out the top three with a 2:14.92. Katie Hoff is seeded fifth with a 2:15.37.

Louisville’s Tanja Kylliainen will swim from the sixth seed with a 2:16.73, followed by 17 year old Katie McLaughlin in seventh with a 2:18.02. Rounding out the top eight is Vien Nguyen, who touched the wall in 2:18.96.

Men’s 200 IM – Prelims

Ryan Lochte, the world and American Record holder in the event, paced the field with a 2:01.93. Lochte will swim next to Conor Dwyer and Uvis Kalnins, who qualified in 2:02.20 and 2:02.91, respectively.

A 2:04.14 from Matthew Josa was good for the fourth overall seed.

Michael Phelps‘ comeback year hasn’t been as fast as last year’s. Phelps touched the wall in 2:04.16, good for the fifth seed.

Marko Blazevski will be the sixth seed. The SwimMAC product touched in 2:05.36. Carlos Claverie, another Louisville swimmer, is seeded seventh in 2:05.90.

Phelps’ North Baltimore teammate Austin Surhoff rounds out the top eight with a 2:06.17.

Women’s 200 Backstroke

For the second event in a row, Hosszu and Coventry once again led the qualifiers into tonight’s finals. Hosszu swam her prelims in 2:11.7, 2.9 seconds off her seed time, while SwimMAC’s Coventry dropped .9 to qualify in 2:12.29.

Iryna Glavnyk of Grand Canyon University was the third-fastest out of prelims with 2:13.31, just ahead of Stanford Swimming’s Maya DiRado, who clocked a 2:13.38.

Men’s 200 Backstroke

Tyler Clary of SwimMAC had a strong morning showing, winning his heat by a large marging and putting up the fastest qualifying time with 2:00.66. Connor Green swam next to Clary and was the only one anywhere near the leader, staying just off Clary’s feet throughout. Green was second overall with 2:01.94.

Arkady Vyatchanin of NYAC and Jacob Pebley of Cal won their respective heats in a respective 2:02.32 and 2:02.48. They will be in lanes 3 and 6 in tonight’s final.

Qualifying fifth was Lander Hendrickx with 2:03.81. Eric Ress of Santa Clara Swim Club went through sixth in 2:04.77. Bryce Meffort (2:05.64) and Luis Rojas (2:06.02) will round out the championship final.

Women’s 100 Freestyle

The first of the circle-seeded heats featured an excellent battle between Abbey Weitzeil of Canyons Aquatic Club in lane 5 and Katie Ledecky of Nation’s Capital in lane 3. Weitzeil turned at the 50 wall with more than a half-second advantage over Ledecky, but Ledecky nearly caught her on the back half. Weitzeil posted a 55.29; Ledecky, 55.37.

In the next heat, Cal’s Natalie Coughlin went 54.18, edging SwimMAC’s Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace by 20/100. Coughlin posted the 16th time in the world so far this year. In prelims.

Simone Manuel won the final heat in 54.20, making her the second seed going into tonight’s final, after Coughlin’s 54.18 and just ahead of Vanderpool-Wallace’s 54.38. Manuel now holds the 18th time in the world this season.

Fourth and fifth in tonight’s final will be Weitzeil and Ledecky. Margo Geer of Ford and Lia Neal tied for sixth with 55.40, while Amanda Weir of SwimAtlanta qualified eighth in 55.43.

Men’s 100 Freestyle

Chris Szekely‘s winning time in heat 6 of 50.82 held up as the fastest qualifying time all the way throught to heat 12, when Josh Schneider of NYAC and Renzo Tjon A Joe tied with 50.10 to take over the lead. Also in that heat, Tucson Ford’s Matt Grevers moved into contention with 50.37.

In the next heat Ryan Lochte of SwimMAC and Emmanuel Vanluchene became the first to break 50 seconds, touching in 49.88 and 49.93, respectively. Conor Dwyer won the final heat in 50.00, with Michael Phelps of North Baltimore just behind in 50.15.

The top eight for finals will be Lochte, Vanluchene, Dwyer, Schneider, Tjon A Joe, Phelps, Grevers, and Tim Phillips of SwimMac in 50.45. Szekely wound up 10th, just behind Javier Acevedo (50.80) and just ahead of Ryan Hoffer, who went 50.87 to tie for the 13th-fastest time ever swum by a 16-year-old boy. Previously he had been at number 31 on the top-100 list.

Women’s 800 freestyle

With the fastest heat of women’s 800 freestylers scheduled to swim in finals, the second-fastest group began the morning session. Tjasa Oder won the first heat in 8:48.28. Madelyn Donohoe of The Fish won a tight race against Guatemala’s Valerie Gruest, 8:51.93 to 8:51.98.

Gabriela Santis of Guatemala won the final heat of the women’s 800 in 9:04.25. Second was Maggie Emary of Barrington in 9:09.20. Jordan Anderson rounded out the top three, touching in 9:11.68.

Men’s 1500 freestyle

In the second-fastest heat of the men’s 1500, Ty Fowler got out to an early lead and continued to built, so that he was virtually alone over the second half of the race. Fowler won his heat with 15:49.48. Mateo De Angulo of Club Seminole was second in 15:57.32, and Chris Wieser was third with 16:09.62.

There must be something special about lane 6. In heat 3, Felipe Tapia of Chile followed his previous lane-holder’s lead and got out way in front very early, swimming alone against the clock for most of the 30 laps. Tapia reached the wall in 15:52.36, taking 10.6 seconds off his seed time. Nick Hogsed was within a second of his best, finishing in 15:58.85, while Mission Viejo’s Shane Forker placed third in the heat with 16:02.23, less than 5 off his best. Nice early-season swims for all three.

The final heat, Juan Tolosa got the win in 16:02.59. Tolosa had been the last of a rather tightly-bunched quartet through the 400. He moved up a spot, but the four continued to turn together through the 700, when Tolosa began to descend. He took over the lead at 750 and then moved from 32-mids to 31.8s or so, adding more and more distance between him and the rest of the leading pack. Thomas Ottman of Scottsdale finished second in the heat in 16:13.11, his best by 12.3 seconds. Third was Drew Eisen of Life Time Arizona, who dropped 28.5 seconds to come to the wall at 16:15.25.

Swim – I see both sides of the argument. While on the one hand, I wish there was some opportunity for new up-and-comers to “challenge” for a spot at Worlds in the new year, I also like the idea of giving athletes incentives to train through the “off year” (aka 2014) and then have some assurances to build their way to Worlds on their own training schedule. While swimming in general isn’t known for creativity, It would be great to see some kind of a system in place where a country could add a 3rd swimmer in an event, but only on some kind of extra-challenging criteria (a really fast time, and within 6 months of the meet to capture… Read more »

I think that for Pan Pac in 1999 (yes that long ago), they picked the team at 1998 Naitonals. Pan Pacs were after 1999 Summer Nationals and I think that at that meet if you swam faster than the time that made the first priority swimmer, you made the team. This may have worked because Pan Pacs did not have a limit to the number of swimmers that could swim in a event.

I wish they would select the team in a trials meet in June just like the Olympics. The USA is bound to lay some eggs at world champs just like they did in 2011. One year makes a big difference for some people. Missy Franklin Had the fastest 200 free of the meet in a relay lead off 1:55.06. That time would have won gold in the individual race but she didn’t get to swim the 200 free. Allison Schmitt swam well and was well deserving of a spot on the team but the other swimmer went a 1:59.22 in prelims and didn’t even qualify for semi’s. I wish you could send 3 for world champs and the olympics. For… Read more »

Phelps certainly took it easy in his prelim swim! I know he has to swim the 100 free later, but if he really is training hard one would think he could put a little bit of effort into prelims without worrying about recovering enough for his next swim.

The real Phelps, i.e. the swimmer seen until 2009, performed really well in every meeting even if tired. and, above all, spoke in the swimming-pool with great times and victories.
This one is another swimmer who speaks of commitment, enthusiasm and will of training out of the pool.
But in the pool?

I mean, technically you can have commitment, renewed passion and will of training and still lose. Lochte, Grevers, Ervin, Coughlin – none are what they were in their prime, but they also speak of training hard and being committed. They have some pretty hit-and-miss results across the board, including last year’s Pan Pacs. Phelps isn’t misleading anyone. He believes he is in a different place and mentally maybe he is. But he is allowed to try and to come up short and it is not the end of the world if he isn’t forever number one. Getting older isn’t some kind of betrayal. You should be more worried about Nathan Adrian, Conor Dwyer, and Tom Shields, because they aren’t exactly… Read more »

I think all those “old guard” swimmers and even the “middle guard” are capable of great swims when they are rested for a big meet, but I think it is difficult to swim fast all the time when you get older (which is what makes Hosszu so remarkable).

What I meant with Phelps is that we need him to get to the point that swimming multiple events in a session and a full schedule of events in a meet is not that difficult In terms of recovery from exertion.

Nobody think that Phelps must be forever number one, this is totally obvious.
I pointed out the totally different attitude he has showed after Bejing.
Who remember that Phelps and the latter one knows very well what I mean.

No, who has followed Phelps during his career, knows very well how really unrested was Phelps during every meeting in-season between 2003 and 2008.

Particularly in the years 2003-2004 and 2007-2008, he trained really hard and nonetheless was capable of great performance also in-season. Someone remember the WR in 200 fly in february 2007, at Columbus, 45 days before the Worlds in Melbourne, i.e. before tapering?

But, I repeat: in every meeting THAT Phelps was capable of an high level of performance upon a lot of race

I don’t understand your point. Everyone knows that there was a difference in attitude/commitment from Phelps post-Beijing. However, the era you’re referencing was also a long time ago. You can train with the same passion and commitment at 23 and at 30, but your body simply won’t be capable of the same things. THAT Phelps and his great in season times was also 7+ years younger.

If he is training as hard as Bowman suggests then he may just be broken down from training hard again. Take into account last year he was swimming once a day 5 days per week and the load was relatively light. That type of training is similar to USRPT in the sense it was low yardage so he was relatively fresh for each of the Grand Prix’s.